Today we are
going to jump right into the scripture for our reflection on REST…

2 Samuel 16

When King David came to Bahurim, a man from the same clan as
Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei; he was Gera’s son. He
was cursing as he came out. He threw
rocks at David and at all of King David’s servants, even though the entire army
and all the warriors were on either side of him… So David and his men kept walking, while Shimei
went along on the hillside next to him, cursing as he went, throwing rocks and
dirt at him.The king and all the people
who were with him reached the Jordan River exhausted,
and he rested there.

It is amazing how exhausting, draining, and stressful people
can be on our emotional and physical stamina.
We often do not realize how the issues, the insults, and even the random
iterations of others can leave us without the energy we need to go on. There are definitely times when we can be
pushed to fall out on the banks of the river for rest and refreshment.

The unfortunate truth is that we often ignore how the
presence of certain people in our lives can be so distressing. We ignore it because we think its just us or
something else or we just outright refuse to name the Shimei’s in our lives. Friends, sometimes it is NOT you. Sometimes it is not anyTHING else. Sometimes it is that ONE person who has
chosen to angrily or disrespectfully or quite possibly ignorantly hurl their
curses and their rocks at you.

I say angrily because like Shimei, you have done something
that offended them and so they are directing their anger toward you with the
intention to hurt you and embarrass you so that you might feel their wrath and
know how hurt they have felt by something that you have done. I say disrespectfully because there are times
when people will curse you and throw rocks of insults at you because they just
do not like you or the people or ideas that you have chosen to associate
with. They may not even know you but for
some reason they do not like you and their disrespect of you is what they
believe you deserve. Lastly, I say the
cursing and the rocks thrown at you might be due to ignorance. You are receiving the brunt of someone’s
misguided and misdirected cursing because they simply do not know how to deal
with their feelings or they have misidentified the one toward whom they meant
to insult. But no matter the perspective
of the one who is cursing and throwing rocks at you, it can be exhausting,
draining, and stressful to you and demand that you run to the river for rest.

Furthermore, sometimes you might feel all or some of this
simply because of whom you have chosen to associate with. Think about it. Shimei’s anger was directed at King David but
King David was not by himself. Shimei “threw rocks at David and at all of King David’s servants, even
though the entire army and all the warriors were on either side of him.” Everyone who was with King David felt the
intensity of emotion that Shemei directed at their leader.

Perhaps you are hanging out with a friend or married to a
spouse or working with a fellow employee, etc. whose enemies anger seems to
know no bounds. And you are feeling
everything the person to whom you are connected is feeling because the Shemei
in your situation has not chosen to limit the direction of their feelings. So, you have the unsolicited privilege of
receiving the cursing and whatever else is hurled at you and it has nothing to
do with you. You just happen to be at
the wrong place at the wrong time. Friends,
it happens. Then you feel exhausted,
drained, and distressed even though IT is not about you and though it is all
about whoever your King David is, you, too, can feel like it is time to fall
out at the river.

So the scripture says, “The king and all the people who were with him
reached the Jordan River exhausted, and he rested there.”

BlogFam, after all that you have been through and endured
because of the anger, animosity, jealousy, envy of another, I invite you to
REST. Take your rest and be refreshed at
the rivers of Jordan. Take your rest and
be open to the peace that can come when you are still with God. Take your rest and be honest about how you
may have contributed to the negative energy being directed at you OR what
connections you maintain that have inadvertently brought this energy into your
life. Take your rest, intercede for the
Shemeis in your life, and forgive or be forgiven for whatever might have
brought this on. BlogFam, whenever you
find yourself exhausted – emotionally or physically - take your rest! He will lead you beside still waters and He
will restore your soul…